Nomos 15

SICILY. Katane. Circa 461-450 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 30 mm, 17.25 g, 12 h). Man-headed bull (river god Amenanos) walking to right; above, satyr running right; in exergue, ketos swimming to right. Rev. KATANAION Nike, with open wings, walking to left, holding an open taenia in each hand. Boehringer, Ognina, pl. 30, 80 (same dies). Holm pl. II, 4 (this coin). Kraay & Hirmer pl. 10, 30 (same obverse die). Rizzo pl. IX, 12 (this coin). SNG Lloyd 887 (same reverse die). An extremely rare variety, very nicely toned. With an exceptionally sharp and well-struck obverse, of the very best style and lacking the usual die rust that mars so many of the early tetradrachms of Katane. Reverse slightly flat struck, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the M.L. Collection, Numismatic Ars Classica 82, 20 May 2015, 36, ex Numismatica Ars Classica 7, 1 March 1994, 186, Leu 48, 10 May 1989, 44, Bank Leu 20, 25 April 1978, 26, and from the Coin Cabinet in Gotha.

The early tetradrachms of Katane, produced after the re-foundation of the city following the Aitna episode, were very well designed. However, they were minted in what appears to be great haste since so many are badly made: off center or lightly struck, or from rusty dies. This makes it likely that they were produced over a relatively short period, perhaps only a few years. This conclusion is supported by C. Arnold-Biucchi in her commentary on the examples found in the Randazzo Hoard (pp. 22-24; the present type is one of the very few Katane varieties not in that hoard). The coins from Gotha were dispersed because they were the property of the last reigning duke, Charles Edward, whose family got them out of Gotha before the Soviet occupying forces took full control of Thuringia. They were then sold by the family, primarily through Münzen und Medaillen in Basel. The curious thing is that Charles Edward was the son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and fourth son of Queen Victoria; due to the deaths of a number of relatives, he was made Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1900 and received a fully German education. During World War I he chose the German side and in 1919 was deprived of his English titles; he met Hitler in 1922 and officially became an enthusiastic Nazi in 1933. This makes it interesting that he should have chosen M&M to sell all of his best Greek coins.